Snowmageddon!

This has been an unusually snowy winter here in the nation's capital. The average annual snowfall for Washington, DC is 16 inches. This winter, we got more than that just during the month of December! Another 6 inches fell on Saturday -- the day of the CotY Awards -- which was topped with an additional 6 inches on Tuesday night. Tuesday's snow was very sticky. Josh took a couple photos while he was taking out the trash.
Even though it was well past sunset, the light reflecting off all that snow made it seem abnormally bright outside.
We woke up Wednesday morning to a winter wonderland...
It was warm enough Wednesday and Thursday for the trees to shed all that snow, but not for long...

Today we are hunkered down for what could be one of the biggest snowstorms in DC history. It started snowing mid-morning and is expected to continue through tomorrow evening, at which point we may have another 16-30" of snow on top of the stuff that's still on the ground from the past two snowfalls. The Washington Post has dubbed this storm "Snowmageddon" and everyone has been encouraged to stay off the roads and be prepared to "shelter in place" for a few days. Most people are working from home today after rushing to the grocery store last night or this morning to stock up on essentials.

Fortunately, I did a substantial grocery run on Monday night, and we've got enough stuff from Trader Joe's in the freezer to tide us over for several more days, so I didn't see the need to do any panic shopping. We did walk over to Whole Foods this morning to get some fresh fruit and veggies and a few snacks for the Super Bowl, and it was mobbed but manageable. Despite being a California girl at heart, I guess I have a fairly cavalier attitude towards snowstorms because even if the roads aren't plowed for a few days, we can still walk to the Metro, 3 grocery stores, 3 drugstores, and dozens of restaurants from our house -- so unless they are all forced to close, we aren't affected as much as people in the 'burbs who are dependent on their cars.

I imagine a lot of Super Bowl parties will be canceled this weekend, and my friend Paige had to postpone her son's 7th birthday party, which was going to be tomorrow afternoon. This is probably a good weekend to get to know your neighbors if you don't want to go stir crazy.

I'll report back after the storm ends with some photos and final snowfall totals.